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Saturday April 12, 2008 9:11 am

Prospect Pro Specs: Eric Gordon

I almost exclusively follow the NBA game when it comes to being a basketball fan. There are only so many hours of free time in a given week, and there is only one television in the house. Nonetheless, this is the time where interest in the NCAA in NBA fans like myself shows a significant spike upwards. Memphis and Kansas went into overtime, and with no NBA that night, most basketball fans tuned in.

Predictably, many sites are handing out their year-end awards and discussing the MVP, both in reality and in fantasy. Well, we’ve already done that here. So let’s stay ahead of the curve and start looking ahead to the NBA draft!

Some sites follow NBA prospects and the draft all year long. Sites like nbadraft.net and Draft Express are where you want to go for in-depth analysis.

Eric Gordon was one of the first, if not the first high-profile college player to declare for the draft. He is listed at 6’ 3” and 215 pounds. He turns 20 on Christmas day. Currently Draft Express has Gordon going to the Milwaukee Bucks as the seventh pick overall, which is interesting. The Bucks have spent a ton of dough signing Michael Redd, Charlie Bell and Mo Williams to big contracts. The Bucks have a busy summer ahead as their new GM will be asked to rebuild quickly and put his own stamp on the roster. The most recent mock draft at nbadraft.net also has Gordon going seventh overall, but to the Clippers. That might make a little more sense. Cuttino Mobley is a solid player but with Shaun Livingston still a big question mark, some backcourt help would be welcome.

Draft Express compares Gordon to a “rich man’s Ben Gordon” as a best case scenario and to Shannon Brown as a worst case scenario while nbadraft.net compares Gordon to Mitch Richmond. Brown played for Michigan State and was the 25th pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2006. He was traded to Chicago this year, and has played only 42 games to date, averaging a most 4.5 ppg and 1.0 rpg. Perhaps it would be ironically fitting for Eric Gordon to end up on Chicago, after the way Illinois fans treated him because he went to Indiana instead of Illinois.

Ben Gordon of course, plays for the Bulls already. To date he has logged 312 games in four years of being in the league. Very durable until missing some games this year, Ben Gordon has averaged 18.0 points so far, on 43.1% shooting from the field and 85.8% shooting from the line. He has hit 1.9 treys a game. As a rookie he averaged a little over 24 minutes of playing time, and averaged 15.1 ppg and 1.6 3pg. That year he shot 41.1%. From a fantasy standpoint his value dips compared to the top guard options because of his low output in steals (0.8 per game for his career). And though he is a shooting guard, his dime dropping is less than three per game so far. Ben Gordon is listed at 6’ 3” and 200 pounds. As a junior on UConns’s championship team, Gordon averaged 20.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists. The comparison between Ben Gordon and Eric Gordon (no relation as far as I know) seems to fit; that means Eric Gordon could have fantasy impact as a rookie if given the minutes and if he lands on the right team.

Mitch Richmond was a 6’ 5” and 215 pound guard coming out of Kansas State University and drafted by the Golden State Warriors with the fifth pick overall in the 1988 draft. He suited up for 976 games over a 14 year career, and averaged 21.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.5 apg. He averaged 1.4 treys and 1.2 steals per game. He appeared in six all-star games as a Sacramento King and won a ring in 2002 as a supporting member for the Los Angeles Lakers. He made All-NBA second team three times and All-NBA third team two times. Currently 30th all-time in NBA points scored, obviously Richmond had a very successful career. Richmond was a couple of inches taller than Gordon but their body types seem pretty comparable. Surely Gordon would consider himself fortunate if his career flight mirrors that of Richmond’s.

So what are Gordon’s fantasy draft prospects moving forward? Shooting guards taken as a whole are expected to score and shoot well from the line, but their draft position often depends on their three-point shooting and their steals. SG is the deepest position in the league; 22 SG-eligible players on Yahoo! are averaging more than 19 ppg this year. Playing for Sacramento this year, Kevin Martin to date is averaging 23.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 2.1 apg while hitting 1.8 treys and swiping 1.0 rocks per game. This production lands him a top 20 ranking for the season. As a rookie in 2004-05, the new K-Mart played in 45 games, averaged about ten minutes a game and scored 2.9 points a game. He blossomed in his third year. His career path suggest it is best to take a wait and see approach on Gordon, and let someone else use a mid-round pick on him just because of potential.

I invite any NCAA fans/experts to weigh in on Eric Gordon with a fantasy focus.

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Comments:

Speculation is accepted as a limiting factor for these articles when writing them. You’re right, the sites I referenced are not basing draft order on anything concrete because the lottery hasn’t happened yet. But as I was trying to be clear in the article, I’m looking at these guys with a serious fantasy basketball slant. We have a rough idea where Gordon’s gonna go and based on standings we have a rough idea of the teams that will be drafting in that area. So if say Gordon does get drafted by the Bucks, that would suggest maybe one of their current guards gets moved, right? And that would mean fantasy fallout. Which to me, is fun to discuss.